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Raven Industries (CNH Industrial subsidiary)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based precision agriculture electronics company; founded 1956. CNH Industrial acquired Raven Industries in November 2021 for $2.1 billion (enterprise value, $58/share). CNH retained the Applied Technology division (precision ag: autonomous equipment, GNSS, ECUs, displays, controllers); sold off Engineered Films (plastic films) and Aerostar (high-altitude balloons/defense). Products: RS1 guidance controller (autosteer + GNSS + Slingshot connectivity, integrates 50+ years of Raven innovation); OMNiDRIVE autonomous tractor system (debuted on Case IH Magnum); Slingshot (cloud-based OTA connectivity); Hawkeye Nozzle Control; AutoTurn; ISOBUS Product Control. RS1 and other systems sold through aftermarket under Raven brand for Case IH, New Holland, and STEYR machines. Raven is integrating with Hemisphere GNSS (also CNH-acquired 2023) for full CNH precision ag stack. Raven Innovation Campus expanding in Sioux Falls with 48 additional acres near Baltic, SD.
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Applied Technology (Precision Ag Electronics)
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Incident2021
CNH Industrial paid $2.1 billion for Raven Industries in November 2021 — $58 per share, a significant premium. But CNH did not want all of Raven: it immediately sold off Raven's high-altitude balloon/stratospheric defense business (Aerostar, to TCOM Holdings) and Raven's industrial plastic films business (Engineered Films, to Industrial Opportunity Partners). CNH paid $2.1 billion but only wanted the precision agriculture electronics division. Before CNH bought it, Raven's RS1 controller and precision ag technology was available to any tractor OEM — it was an independent supplier selling to multiple brands. After the acquisition, Raven's technology is now primarily for Case IH and New Holland. One acquisition removed a multi-OEM precision ag electronics platform from the open market.
BusinessWire ↗Did you know2020
Before its 2021 acquisition by CNH Industrial, Raven Industries had three completely unrelated divisions operating from Sioux Falls, South Dakota: high-altitude stratospheric balloons used by the US military and intelligence community (Aerostar division, sold to TCOM Holdings post-acquisition), industrial plastic films for agriculture and construction (Engineered Films, sold to Industrial Opportunity Partners post-acquisition), and precision agriculture electronics (Applied Technology, the only division CNH wanted). A space-age balloon company, an industrial plastics manufacturer, and an ag tech startup had organically co-evolved inside the same South Dakota corporate entity. CNH paid $2.1 billion to acquire all three and immediately divested two. The defense intelligence balloon program and the farm guidance system had shared a CFO and CEO in Sioux Falls for decades.
Raven Industries ↗Origin2023
Raven Industries was founded in 1956 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota by four former General Mills engineers who had been building high-altitude research balloons at the company's aeronautics division. The founding product was a high-altitude balloon that carried the Project Manhigh capsule -- the first manned flights to the stratosphere, which were a precursor to the US space program. Raven built high-altitude scientific balloons through the 1960s and 1970s, then diversified into plastic films and electronics during the agricultural technology boom of the 1980s and 1990s. The precision agriculture electronics division (GPS-based guidance and yield monitoring, starting in the 1990s) became its primary growth business and made Raven a South Dakota-headquartered technology company supplying precision ag systems to OEMs globally. By the time CNH Industrial acquired Raven for $2.1 billion in 2021, a balloon company from the space race era had built one of the most widely deployed precision agriculture electronics platforms in North America.
Raven Industries ↗